Task. 44: The Hermit's Onsen
The Hermit's Onsen is the forty-fourth episode of GoGo Sentai Boukenger. It is the first of a three-part story featuring the final battle with the Dark Shadow Negative Syndicate, revealing the truth regarding Gekkou of Illusions Synopsis On a journey to a mountain hot spring, Natsuki is manipulated by Gekkou to reseal a Precious unleashed by Yaiba with his darkest secret. Plot The six Boukenger are all dressed up in traditional New Years clothing, and say 'Happy New Year' to Morio. Morio gives them presents. Masumi is surprised they are each a coin worth five yen. Meanwhile at Dark Shadow headquarters, Yaiba wants to use the Precious at the Hermit's Gorge to use against the Boukenger, since they have thwarted their plans all year. Gekkou orders Yaiba not to pursue it as he is against it. He has his curtain lower in front of them. Shizuka is weary but Yaiba is going to disobey Gekkou anyway because his plan is already in motion. He says the Precious has great power. Natsuki opens an envelope to find she has an invitation to relax in some hot springs. She doesn't know where it came from. She wants everyone to join her. Satoru says they have to stay in case something happens. Shouta suggests half go and half stay. They decided to play Rock, Paper, Scissors and it ends up no one picks 'Paper.' And Masumi, Satoru, and Sakura loose. At Hermit's gorge, Yaiba and Shizuka arrive. Yaiba explains every twelve years, the moon splits into three. He says he already arranged for the Boukenger to arrive. Yaiba slices a rock to reveal a Precious that suspiciously looks a lot like Gekkou. Shizuka comments nothing happened. It will start reacting at night. But something has started happening. Gekkou starts molting. He can't believe it. He starts flying and crashes. His wing is bleeding and injured. Natsuki, Souta, and Eiji go through a bridge to get to the spring. Morio comes into the SGS room to tell the others the ink from Natsuki's invitation matches the ink of the Dark Shadow's Shinpu. They, of course, suspect the others are in trouble. Souta wonders why there is no road. They see something rumbling in a bush and Gekkou flies out. They don't even know who he is. Eiji ignores him but Natsuki picks him up. Gekkou recognizes her as BoukenYellow. She is not for leaving an injured animal. Gekkou believes he can 'use' her. So he teleports them away. Eiji and Souta are left wondering where they went in a midst of feathers. Meanwhile, the others are on the right track to reunite. Elsewhere, Natsuki puts a bandage over Gekkou's wing. She stands up and wonders where Eiji and Souta are, as she hasn't even noticed Gekkou teleported them to another part of the forest. He thanks her and she is surprised. He says 'I' in a way old men do: 'washi' but she mistakes it as the 'washi' meaning Eagle. He clarifies he is an Owl. He claims to be the master of the forest and that he 'learned' to talk after a hundred years. She says she has seen this before. He wants her to take him to the Hermit's Gorge. Shouta and Eiji shout out for Natsuki. They do sense something strange about the mountain. The others walk and Satoru throws a Bouken Chip in a tree, revealing Shizuka. They ask why she hasn't attack and what the Dark Shadow are up to. She says she doesn't know, runs off and they follow. Natsuki offers they hang out in the hot spring afterwards, He imagines it. He comments she is simple. When she asks him what he said, he turns around and says she is beautiful, kind girl. Shizuka skips around through the forest, saying she is not fighting today. She lands to find herself in front of Shouta and Eiji. She frets and tries to run off but the others arrive, she is surrounding. She drops peddles in the air and they become Karths. The five transform and fight the Karths. They all catch up on information. Shizuka attacks Pink. Natsuki and Gekkou continue walking and reach the Precious. Gekkou asks her to put the put the mounds back together and cover the Precious once again. Natsuki runs to it when Yaiba attacks her. She asks why he is there. He doesn't say, he grabs his sword. She grabs her Accellular, he fights her, she brushes her changer on his sword and transforms. They fight. Yellow bests Yaiba but he quickly beats her. Yaiba then performs a technique that a ton of Gekkou fight Yaiba. Yaiba is surprised Gekkou is attacking him. It is news to Natsuki that Yaiba and Gekkou know each other. Gekkou tells Yellow to hurry to seal the Precious because something 'horrible' will happen. Yaiba then stabs Gekkou with a ninja star. Of course, all the birds disappear. Bouken Yellow reaches the area of the stones and Precious. She stops at the ropes and bows, excusing herself to the Precious. She skips over the rope and Yaiba forms long chains to wrap around her. He swings her over to him and she un-transforms. Gekkou shouts to 'Miss' to Natsuki. Yaiba then wraps chains around Gekkou. Gekkou addresses Yaiba about breaking the seal. Gekkou says if he wasn't hurt, he wouldn't have been beaten by them. Yaiba says no one can stop him and that they must wait for the moon together. Meanwhile, the Boukenger have defeated all the Karths and have surrounded Shizuka once again. She disappears in a smoke bomb. She appears elsewhere and they chase her. Yaiba has tied Gekkou and Natsuki on two thin trees. In 15 minutes, the three moons will rise and the power from the mound will kill everyone in the Hermit's Gorge. Yaiba at the notion of Natsuki calling Gekkou 'Mr. Bird." Yaiba reveals Gekkou is the leader of the Dark Shadow. Natsuki is unbelieving. Gekkou finally reveals that the power of a demon bird that tried to destroy the Gorge. He was human and used his nijitusu to combine his body with the demon. He sealed the remaining demon power in the Precious. He explains he will return into being a demon bird. He warns Yaiba and urges him to seal the mound. Yaiba turns around, reveals his 'true face' and says, "How fun." Yaiba has no problem with what will happen to Gekkou. Shizuka and the other five Boukenger arrive. Shizuka is shocked to find Gekkou there. Yaiba says she will know soon but the Boukengers are more important to take care of first. Yaiba does his crane attack on the Boukenger and then another attack. The all fight. The moon reveals itself. It then becomes three moons. Gekkou becomes the giant demon bird. As usual, the other Boukengers have no idea of what is going on. They are blasted at with fire. Red tells Silver to free Yellow and they board DaiVoyager. The demon bird blows air on the robo and then brings them down. He then bashes at them. Red raises DaiVoyager's left arm to punch the Demon Bird's face. DaiVoyager stands up and fires all cannons. The Demon Bird lifts up in the air and avoids their attacks. He reflects the attacks back down to them from his wings. Pink says the mound jewel's Hazard Level is at 600. He must be absorbing that power. Shizuka runs to Yaiba, pleading that Gekkou must be saved. He pushes her aside and slashes at her. She dramatically falls slowly. He says, "Destroy the demon bird for me." She reaches out her bloody hand an she walks off. For some reason, Silver still hasn't gotten to Natsuki. He starts to untie her ropes when the Demon Bird notices this and blows fire at them. Eiji and Natsuki land, un-transformed. She hands him the sealment parchments. Demon Bird lifts in the air, and brings rain. He punches DaiVoyager. He then blows fire at them. Eiji and Natsuki try constructing the seal of the rocks as Demon Bird beats up DaiVoyager. They fall. Eiji lifts one rock and Natsuki raises another. DaiVoyager stands up and Demon Bird shoots red electricity from his chest on DaiVoyager. Eiji and Natsuki successfully close in the Precious with the two rocks and put the two sealing parchments on top of it. It glows blue. Demon Bird falls down. DaiVoyager does its finisher on the Demon Bird. In the explosion, Gekkou flies out. Natsuki watches and sadly says, "Mister Bird." Gekkou falls near Shizuka and she approaches him with her bloody hands. She grabs Gekkou and brings him near her chest. They teleport away in a ninja swirl. Back at SGS, Morio brings everyone rice gruel with seven plants of spring, which is similar to the one from the hot springs. Souta laments not going to the springs. He says that not only that they were deceived, they faced a storm and a demon bird. Mr. Voice tells them all good work. He says investigation says Hermit's Gorge was the home of the Kage variety of Shinobi. Masumi wonders what Yaiba is planning to do, if he betrayed his own ninja clan the Dark Shadow. Satoru wonders what Gekkou will do, now that Yaiba is gone. Natsuki says she can't help but feel sorry for 'Mister Bird.' She holds up a single feather she has of him. In DS headquarters, Shizuka apologizes to Gekkou, explaining she didn't know anything about the plot to betray him. He forgives her and says as for Yaiba, those that betray the Dark Shadow never shall be forgiven. He says only death awaits him. She agrees, she has a bandage on her face. Yaiba teleports away as he walks. Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : The 30 Sentai Encyclopedia: Special Files *'Extra Hero': The team looks back at the first , Ninjaman of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, who could transform into SamuraiMan, and Signalman of Gekisou Sentai Carranger. They also mention Gunmajin of Chouriki Sentai Ohranger who transformed from a relic into a human- and Robo-sized warrior, like Zubaan. At the end, Zubaan speaks to the audience, with subtitles, and he says that he is in Boukenger. He holds up the sign from the Carranger segment as he says goodbye. **This is Masumi's eight and last time starting the segment. **Song: performed by Takayuki Miyauchi **A notable absence in this entry is Black Knight BullBlack as well as his replacement, Hyuuga from Seijuu Sentai Gingaman; he would be one of the more notable Extra Heroes by Gokaiger. **By contrast, Gunmajin is only classified as a Extra Hero in this entry and is not seen or mentioned in the next anniversary. **Coincidentally, Ninjaman would appear once again in Sentai exactly five years after this entry in the next anniversary season. Notes *As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside episode 47, . *'Viewership': 5.8% *Gekkou's origin is revealed in this episode and it is the first time the Boukenger become aware of Gekkou, who first appeared in Episode 3. *In "Power Rangers Operation Overdrive", Miratrix was turned into the Demon Bird, even though her counterpart Shizuka had a super form and that footage was unused. *In "Power Rangers Operation Overdrive," Gekkou is still seen falling out of the explosion briefly, even though a new actor is superimposed over it. *The Precious Mercurius Vessel (from Episodes 40-42), which was renamed to the Octavian Chalice in "Power Rangers Operation Overdrive", was used in place of the Demon Bird Magic Orb to transform Miratrix into the demon bird. Mecha References *Gekkou of Illusions (Demon Bird form) - Jet Garuda (Choujin Sentai Jetman) DVD releases GoGo Sentai Boukenger Volume 11 features episodes 41-44: Task 41: The Mercurius Vessel, Task 42: The Age of the Questers, Task 43: The Dangerous Christmas Present and Task 44: The Hermit's Onsen. http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/sp21/bouken.html See Also References Category:GoGo Sentai Boukenger Category:Sentai episodes Category:Sentai New Year Episode Category:Written by Junki Takegami